Honestly I fiddled with the RES details and blocked image/meme based sites and look at the results:
This really kind of helps emphasise on how image based and dumbed down reddit really is. Sure its content is superior in comparison to facebook or 9gag but where's the intellect? Where are the stories and the well written philosophies? All you can see here are news titles which nobody would read the actual article to and just continue to upvote, some alternate image based site I haven't managed to block and tree excitement and a wiki link advocating laziness alongside a goal. I'm fed up that a site could be so dumbed down and I'm so glad I have followed a text-based site like this, one that actually makes you think instead of funnelling macros and memes and gifs until all you can do is make a dumb joke in the comments, one where you should be scared to produce an opinion because everybody apparently knows better than you. Well I'm glad I have found hubski, its about time.
I thought that reddit was fine, and I wasn't really annoyed at it, but then someone mentioned hubski in the thread about the votes-not-showing-change and I went and checked the site out. And well, I don't know how I stood and even liked reddit for so long. Hubski is better, it is more about content and long articles and actual discussions instead of in-jokes and memes. I've commented more here in 2-3 days than I did at reddit, well, in 2 years. I feel more welcomed here and I feel like hubski actually is a community.
Hubski reminds me of the reddit of six years ago. Hubski seems to be a bit more liberal than libertarian like the reddit of yore, but I suppose that's okay. The challenge in front of all of us who appreciate thoughtful discussion over quippy commentary will be maintaining the Hubski culture in the face of growth. I never thought reddit would be the cesspit it is now, but with each wave of growth, the site degraded a bit more. The same think can happen to Hubski if the community starts rewarding thoughtless commentary, belligerent fight-picking, vapid partisanship and entrenched perspectives. We have to stay vigilant, respectful and open-minded if we're going to cultivate a community worth keeping six years from now.
In all honesty, part of what contributes to less-thoughtful discussion is another aspect that makes this site great and I wouldn't want to change: the interpersonal relationships between users. As users grow to know each other I think we become more comfortable having casual conversations (just as you would in an in-person relationship). However, that leads itself to quips, one-off jokes, and so on. Since the established users have a pre-existing relationship with each other I don't think it's something that is easily noticed. But I do think there's a potential for less thoughtful discussion as a result of feeling like you know all the users - not an echo chamber effect but more an increased comfort with casual contribution. I used to not let myself post one-sentence comments. Sometimes I'd post one sentence but I'd see it, see how short and not really conversation-starting it was, and go back and edit. I'd expound on why I felt a certain way or what my thought process is. While I think we have to have a happy medium - we have to be casual and friendly and joke-y with each other, as much as we have our long theoretical conversations about art and site usability - it's a trend I'm keeping my eye on. All I can do is try to contribute quality content and comments if I feel like I'm slipping. I think without even consciously realizing it others will see that and respond in kind. So, I agree. We have to stay vigilant. But maybe new users can keep older users on their toes: by challenging viewpoints, by upsetting the status quo. As long as those new users are actually promoting the purpose of the site as it is now, "thoughtful discussion."
There's letting things grow organically, and there's cultivating a garden. Reddit has succumbed to the weeds, and, as I enjoy hubski so far, I don't want to see the same thing happen. If you think hubski is full of pretentious folks, why are you here?
I have been waiting for an opportunity to use that gif for so long.
I really hope it doesn't happen, but as I understand it reddit wasn't geared towards discussion in the first place and I think hubski has an advantage with building the t´site for communication from the very beginning. But yes, we have to work towards keeping the quality high.
Long, long ago, way back in the dark ages, reddit actually was a place where decent conversations occurred. I started going to the site to get "the news behind the news"; it seemed like for every article I read, there was someone on reddit who could offer an expert's analysis and flesh out the truth behind the sensationalism. Insightful posts were upvoted and reddiquette was observed. You still get hints of this in AskScience and TrueReddit (though TrueReddit is also sliding downhill...) but for the most part, reddit's current structure rewards low insight, low quality posts that appeal to the masses. RES sped up the site's de-evolution to shitposting because with RES, people didn't even need to leave the site to consume their cat gifs and whatnot. The Great Digg Migration also brought in a huge influx of new users who didn't know (and didn't care) about the site's cultural history. Then reddit started getting power users like shittywatercolour derailing the conversation with pictures that were at best mildly interesting and at worst, noise that blocked out actual discussion. Add in some targeted campaigns of disruption from 4chan and SomethingAwful, and reddit transformed from a mostly intelligent forum for news, science and politics to the meme-belching fart of a website it currently is. Anyway. You'd never know it by its current state, but way back when, reddit was a pretty good forum for discussion. I certainly learned a lot when I first found the site. I think hubski has some structural elements in place that will help stave off the de-evolution to shitposting (for example, no downvotes, the hide/ignore/mute option, hashtags instead of subreddits, and no power mods) but if it can happen to reddit, it can happen to hubski.
But didn't reddit start out without a comment section? I might be remembering completely wrong though.
No, I think you're right! I guess I'm just speaking to my experience. I didn't jump on the reddit train until 2008-ish, so I missed out on the first three years. I'll amend my previous statement to say that while it starting out as a link-swapping site, it pretty quickly evolved to include commentary and discussion. In fact, the comments were what initially drew me to the site. That's why I feel so let down (and slightly bitter) to see what it's become. Game's back on so that's all for now!
I joined reddit in 2012 so I completely missed the glory days, I'm just going of what I heard about the beginning of the site.
You read my mind exactly. Hubski is better, it is more about content and long articles and actual discussions instead of in-jokes and memes.
I've commented more here in 2-3 days than I did at reddit, well, in 2 years. I feel more welcomed here and I feel like hubski actually is a community.
This 100%
Plus the rampant misogyny, racism, bigotry, et al. I was literally subscribed to a bunch of subreddits, most with >10k subscribers... and still the community interaction just isn't there, reddit seems more geared towards collecting karma points. But I love the group feel here and what's amazing is it doesn't seem to lose it's individuality in the process. I feel like I can still observe and interact with the uniqueness of each user on Hubski, as well as seeing large interactions in Global threads. I think on the tutorial it says Hubski is like a "Party" and I can see now how that description holds true. I'm so happy to be here haha ♥︎HubskiHubski is better, it is more about content and long articles and actual discussions instead of in-jokes and memes.
I'm so happy I found hubski, it's the best website ever. I really hope it doesn't become like reddit but stays the way it is.
Well I tried to convert a friend of mine who's always bringing discussion worthy topics to our conversations on Reddit, and he said that this (hubski) looks like Reddit for pretentious people. Which is kind of amusing because he fits the category that insomniasexx called "fuckwits". (Sorry if this was kind of unrelated).
I don't get why they see hubski as pretentious, it's different and it focuses more on discussion but it's not as if funny content isn't allowed or that all content must be highbrow.
It was somebody from www.reddit.com/r/makenewfriendshere - well one of their ops. I linked him to the Reddit Implosion thread and that's what he said in return. Which is quite stupid. Again it's like KB said "the lack of easily digestible content is a turn off for 90% of the people that come here from reddit."
I don't really use it, but I've had a profile.
Good luck! I hope you succeed in making non-fuckwits join hubski.
Not really, I have a friend in real life I think would like it, but I wont see her until school starts.
I mainly use reddit for /r/vexillology and /r/Autos. Anything else I was subbed to I seem to have lost interest in.
1) reddit sucks. Totally agree. But... 2) To be honest, you're subscribed to totally the wrong subreddits for what you describe, though. God I haven't even looked at r/iAmA in probably over a year. r/foodforthought, r/depthhub, r/indepthstories, etc. It's not Hubski but they're not too bad and pretty good every once in a while. Of course everyone's got their own entertainment subreddits, I do eat the popcorn at r/relationshipadvice regularly. 3) Reddit sucks. I still use reddit. Only reason I haven't bombed my account is because then I wouldn't be subscribed to any subreddits and fuck if I'm going to amass them all over again. I filter out a lot of shit with subreddits. I still get image posts but mostly it's the image posts I want to see. like, cats.
Even though I'm happy to be away from Reddit I won't delete my account. Reddit is big and almost everything is represented there. It wont be my go-to place for discussion but some things on reddit are just never going to move here. Which is good for hubski, but sometimes I want to see things about hair-care or makeup och comics about countries represented as balls. Reddit is bad but some content fits better there than it does here and sometimes I want to view that content.
That makes sense. Because Hubski is small it can sometimes be hard to get a response/audience, especially if something is a specialized interest. For instance, I'm thinking about putting up an askhubski about Master's of Business programs, but I'm really not sure how many users would be able to contribute to it. On the other hand, while I could probably find a subreddit to post to on that site, I don't think it would give me the kind of discussion and (potentially) advice that I am looking for. But, stuff like r/relationshipadvice...I shamelessly admit I love that subreddit. I simultaneously hope we never have anything like it here. I certainly enjoy self-posts from Hubski-ites about their personal life, whether they are sharing successes, stories, responding to an #askhubski, or - yes - asking advice. However, I would hate to see the one community (Hubski's) become anything like the other's (relationshipadvice, etc). I guess for me the subreddit is like a soap opera. I rarely comment on those threads. On Hubski I like personal-life threads because I like to share with people - real people - who I know, or am coming to know, and value. On the subreddit I am like "This is all fake and for attention." I deeply hope I never think that about a self-post on Hubski. That for me would be a sign of the end of the site, if I felt I could no longer trust the veracity of its users. I don't mind a little story now and again. (Though it's good to label fiction as such.) I do mind it if I don't trust a user. I find the difference for me between Reddit and Hubski is that on Reddit I expect anonymity (for myself and sordid confessions if need be) and trust no one; on Hubski I feel I have a reputation, history, and personality that is built via my comments and that other users can and do recognize and learn. There's a trade-off, slightly: that anonymity out the window. I can't say true, terrible personal things on here without fall-out. Reddit can be a great confessional. Hubski, unless you make an alt, can't. (And please don't make alts or delete them when you're done. Recycle usernames people.)
You said it beautifully. Reddit was a place where I viewed stuff, hubski is a place where I interact. I feel like I'm a part of hubski in a way I never was a with reddit.
You've all (mostly) been very, very nice and I've actually never felt so welcomed to a site as I do now.
Personally, I'm going to stick with both for a while. /r/games for gaming news (comments are a circlejerk though,) /r/RPGMake, /r/emulation, and /r/gamedeals for obvious reasons, and /r/youdontsurf for my "simple" comedy needs. Small subs are definitely the way to go if you're still on Reddit. But everyone's been cool so far here, I'd love to help build up a gaming community.